The British Livestock stand, organised in conjunction with the British Livestock Genetics Consortium (BLG) and supported by the Export Department of AHDB Beef and Lamb was abuzz with interest throughout the 3 days of the 85th Irish National Ploughing Championships – ‘The Ploughing’ - held near Tullamore, about 60 miles due west of Dublin from 20th to 22nd September 2016.
The whole site covered over 600 acres and included over 250 acres of competition ploughing involving the most modern reversibles to horses and vintage classes. The attendance at this, the largest outdoor exhibitor and agricultural trade show in Europe, was in excess of 283,000 over the three days, with visitors being drawn from every corner of the island of Ireland in addition to strong international support. The event attracted over 1700 exhibitors covering all aspect of rural life.
The British Livestock stand, located in the middle of the livestock area, was supported with breed information from 25 beef and 9 sheep breeds in addition to the National Sheep Association, the British Pig Association and the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB). The very wide range of genetic information available prompted favourable comments on how interesting the stand was; one farmer expressing a view that it was the most informative stand on the whole show field!
At the opening of the event ,the stand tables were groaning with promotional material, however by lunchtime on the 3rd day very little was left! The object of the exercise being to raise the profile of what quality livestock genetics are available from the UK, leading to subsequent export business of semen, embryos and pedigree livestock. On closure of the event, approaching 60 ‘Requests for Information’ forms had been completed giving a strong indication of the interest there is in British livestock genetics and the high regard in which it is perceived.
The stand was facilitated, on behalf of AHDB – Beef and Lamb, by John Fleming of ‘JF Professional Genetic Services’, ably supported by Gill Evans, an experienced pedigree breeder of many years standing.
The 2017 event will take place between the 19th and 21st September 2017 at the same venue.
John Fleming